For forty years manna was the bread of life for the Israelites. “I am the bread of life,” said Jesus, “he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Deuteronomy 8:3 tells us that God’s commandments are for the purpose of letting us know that “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord . . . ” Just as the manna was laid up in the ark as a testimony of the earthly bread supplied to the Israelites by God, so God’s people today have His words in the Bible as a testimony of the true Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Just as the manna was a type of Christ, we may be likened to the people of Israel who gathered it.
The study of the wanderings of the Jews for forty years can help us avoid making the mistakes they made. Let us consider Exodus 16:20,21. The foolish people did not listen to God and obey His directions, but tried on one day to gather enough food to last two or three days or perhaps a week. They were like some of us today who go to meeting on Sunday and think it is not necessary to read or study or attend Bible classes for the remainder of the week. We will find as the Jews did that this is not God’s plan. We must daily gather the manna of life. We must eat the spiritual bread and absorb it into our systems so that it becomes a part of us, causing us to think and act as God would have us do.
The Israelites also found they could not arise late in the morning, and at their own convenience go to gather food. They had to gather early in the morning before the sun became too strong and the food disappeared. This tells us that we must put the search for God’s food first in our lives. It may not be available if we wait too late to gather it (remember the five foolish virgins who lacked the required oil for their lamps when the Bridegroom came). We must be like the true seed of Abraham, gathering daily, faithfully, without murmuring; for the Words of Life that we gather now are all that will sustain us until the time when we will eventually attain immortality and dwell forever with Christ in His kingdom. Let us be among those who conquer, and to whom Christ gives some of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One